Springer-Peterson Fabrication has an established and long-standing relationship with Peachee Construction. This particular project was associated with a reroof project that our Springer-Peterson roofing division was doing with this area of the plant.
We were selected as the first choice for this structural steel fabrication and installation. Selecting us made sense since this fabrication project called for strong coordination with our roofing division. It was an easy choice for them to use our in-house fabrication team.
Problem:
For starters, the original building was very old. The existing structure was designed for ambient temperature warehousing which doesn’t support mechanical equipment and under roof loads. Since the steel was not properly designed for the new purpose, the structural roof steel was both replaced and reinforced in several different areas of the building. We recommended some design changes on this project even though most of the guidance was done by the structural EOR, who we worked closely with.
The main challenge on this project was that the building was so old that the general standards of construction as we know them today were not necessarily followed. Things were not straight and it was very difficult to get good existing condition measurements or to pre-fabricate the steel prior to installation. Much of the steel had to be fabricated in the field which is much more difficult to do with the lack of advantage of shop equipment. Additional challenges were a very tight deadline and difficult site logistics.
Solution:
Planning and preparation were the name of the game on the smooth execution of this project. We worked closely with our roofing division to ensure that areas of roof, where the structure needed to be changed or enhanced, were free of roofing material and made accessible.
Our Springer-Peterson Fabrication team designed a one way linear job flow to minimize our footprint outside of the critical area. We coordinated with several different sub-contractors to move through the work in phases. This strategy concentrated our impact to certain zones or the work site on certain days which allowed other critical path work to continue in the same place at the same time.
Peachee Construction was beyond satisfied with the results of this project. In fact, after completion of this project, we moved on to another one of their sites and started very similar work.
